The present invention relates to round balers and, more particularly, to a monitor for determining the success of a bale wrapping or tying process.
For many years, agricultural balers have been used to consolidate and package crop material so as to facilitate the storage and handling of the crop material for later use. Usually, a mower-condition cuts and conditions the crop material for windrow drying in the sun. When the cut crop material is properly dried, a baler, most likely a round baler, is pulled along the windrows to pick up the crop material and form it into cylindrically-shaped round bales. More specifically, the pickup of the baler gathers the cut and windrowed drop material from the ground then conveys the cut crop material with a conveyor, such as a rotating conveying rotor, into a bale-forming chamber within the baler. The pickup assembly has a drive mechanism that operates to power both the pickup and the conveying rotor, and the pickup drive mechanism is operably connected to and driven by the main drive mechanism of the baler. The baling chamber comprises a pair of opposing sidewalls with a series of belts that rotate and compress the crop material into a cylindrical shape. When the bale has achieved a desired size and density the operator wraps the bale to ensure that the bale maintains its shape and density. The operator raises the tailgate of the baler and ejects the bale onto the ground. The tailgate is then closed and the cycle repeated as necessary and desired to manage the field of cut crop material.
Common practice has the baler wrap the bales with twine, net-like or continuous plastic sheeting. With twine, the bale is wrapped back and forth from side-to-side as the bale is turned, from a single dispensing mechanism, or back and forth from middle-to-side from as the bale is turned, from dual dispensing mechanisms with twine numerous time, the twine “gripping” the crop material and prior wrappings of twine adequately to hold the package together in a process often referred to as “tying”. Net wrap is made of a plastic sheet, generally equal in width to the bale being formed, with regular openings therethrough and is overlapped on itself to hold he package together. An adhesive may be used to improve the holding power of the net wrap. Plastic wrap, or film, is a generally continuous sheet of plastic, also generally the width of the bale being formed, with a somewhat adhesive surface that grips itself when overlapped and the crop material to form the package.
Once the bale is formed and tied or wrapped, it is ejected through the rear of the baler onto the field where it may sit until use, or may be collected into a central location for longer term storage. The tying and wrapping processes are subject to a number of failures or defaults. More particularly, the baler obviously carry limited supplies of packaging materials, so on occasion, the supplies run out and could result in the ejection of a bale that has been neither tied nor wrapped. Also, rips or tears do occur in the net wrap and plastic wrap materials, resulting in only partially coverage of the bale before ejection. Round bales are created under considerable pressure, so a tear or rip in wrapping material is magnified with undesirable consequences in bale shape and rigidity.
Practically, it is the operator's responsibility to look over his shoulder and try to monitor the progress of bale formation, its tying or wrapping, and its ejection—all while driving the tractor. Not only is this a difficult responsibility to meet, it is impossible in some cases because many balers have components on the front thereof blocking a reasonable view of the bale.
It would be a great advantage to provide a wrap or tie monitor that overcomes the above problems and disadvantages.